WCCC set to close its Greene County Education Center near Waynesburg
WAYNESBURG – The decision by Westmoreland County Community College to close its Greene County Education Center will be a major blow to the region and its students, local education advocates said Tuesday.
“I’m really sad to hear that they’re going to be reducing it,” said Bettie Stammerjohn, director of Community Foundation of Greene County that offers scholarships and grants to local students looking to further their education.
“I understand the economics, but I think it will be a big loss to the Greene County community.”
WCCC officials announced Monday they are closing the Greene County satellite school in May due to falling enrollment in recent years at the location in EverGreene Technology Park near the Greene County Airport.
“Enrollment at Greene has been declining for several years and the college has subsidized its cost of operations, which we can no longer afford to do,” WCCC President Tuesday Stanley said in a statement.
According to statistics provided by the college, enrollment at the Greene County center fell from 113 students in 2015 to just 66 last fall. Spring classes will continue until the semester ends May 11, the college announced, and the school will leave the property by the end of June when the lease ends.
“This decision was not made lightly,” WCCC Board of Trustees Chairman Dick Dickert said. “The evaluation process was thorough and occurred over the past year.”
The center opened in 1999 with classes at the former East Franklin school and eventually moved into its current location at EverGreene in 2006.
Stammerjohn said she is concerned how the loss of the school located just a few miles from Waynesburg will affect educational opportunities for students who are not yet ready to attend a university.
“That community college provides a jumping-off point for kids who have just graduated and spent their whole lives in Greene County, and maybe going off to college is a little scary,” Stammerjohn said. “That start can lead them to a two-year degree or give them confidence to go to class at the main campus or another college.”
Carmichaels Area Superintendent John Menhart said a partnership with the school allowed high school students to gain college credits. He called it a “big loss” for the county.
“It was a local resource for students to get a jump on their education,” Menhart said. “Being that it was right there, it made it easy. It’s a big loss. It’s a sad thing for us.”
The closure will come less than a year after the death of its former director and one of the co-founders of the school.
Nancy Davis, who died in June at age 80, was part of the team to form a community college in the 1990s while serving on the Greene County Education Consortium. She initiated discussions with WCCC to see if the school would be interested in opening the education center.
She was instrumental in moving to the new education center at EverGreene in 2006, and stepped down as coordinator the following year. However, she continued to serve as workforce development coordinator for another five years before semiretiring to part-time work as the energy liaison coordinator.
Although Davis hadn’t been in charge for years, Stammerjohn said she was still a “great advocate” for the center and even started a scholarship in her deceased son’s name to help Greene County students. Now, Stammerjohn is unsure what her community Foundation will do with the William H. Davis Jr. Scholarship with the campus is closing.
Students will now be given the option to attend classes at the college’s main campus in Youngwood – nearly 60 miles from Waynesburg – or take courses online.
Shaina Stouffer of Waynesburg was preparing to take a test to enter the school’s nursing program in the fall, but received a phone call Friday that the center was closing, setting her back. She now says she will take online classes at WCCC to get her prequalifications to get into a nursing program at Washington Hospital.
“Having them there was amazing, and so convenient for people like me,” she said. “And then they decide to cancel, with literally no notice at all. It’s wrong.”
Meanwhile, the school’s full-time instructor will teach at other locations and the remaining part-time workers can apply for positions at other WCCC centers.